This Year the Bay Area May Witness The Most Teams In the Postseason In Less Than a Year

The San Jose Sharks are currently fighting for a playoff spot and I can’t help but hope for them to make the postseason. Not just because I am a Sharks fan but because I am a Bay Area fan. If the Sharks make the postseason by this week’s end, the Bay Area will have accomplished something it never has before.  That accomplishment is seeing a Bay Area team from each major sports league make the postseason in a span of one year.

            When I mean major sports, I mean baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. When I mean major sport leagues I mean the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL. So far in the past year at least one Bay Area team has made the postseason from each of its respective leagues. The San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s both made the playoffs last October in pro baseball. The San Francisco 49ers made the playoffs last January in pro football. The Golden State Warriors are currently in the playoffs for pro basketball. If the Sharks make the playoffs this week that would mean that five of the six major Bay Area teams would make the playoffs in less than a year.  Only the Oakland Raiders in football failed at making the playoffs this past year which keeps the Bay Area from going a perfect 6 for 6 in postseason appearances in one year. Still in less than a year the Bay Area may have the chance to witness a local postseason team in every major sport. That itself would be a first for the Bay Area.

            How close have the Bay Area sport teams gotten to accomplishing this all in the same year. It has been close a few times.  Remember the San Jose Sharks have only been in existence since 1991 so the Bay Area has only had a major sport team in all major sports since then. Before that the only NHL team to call the Bay Area home was the Oakland Seals who were only in existence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That franchise only made the postseason twice. They made it in 1969 and another in 1970. The Oakland A’s did not make the postseason in 1968, 1969, or 1970. They made the playoffs in October of 1971 but that is more than a year after April of 1970 when the Seals last reached the postseason. The San Francisco Giants also did not reach the postseason in 1968, 1969, or 1970. Like the A’s, the Giants reached the postseason in October of 1971 more than a year after the Seals last postseason appearance. The San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders both reached the postseason in 1970, the same year the Seals made the playoffs. The Raiders also reached the playoffs in 1969 in the same year the Seals made their first playoff appearance. While those few years in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s got four Bay Area teams involved in a span of a year, it never witnessed a team from each sport making the playoffs. Since the Oakland Seals didn’t reach the postseason again after 1970 and would eventually fold as a team in the mid 1970s, you would not see a chance for the Bay Area to see a team in four different sports compete in the playoffs the same year until the San Jose Sharks joined the league in 1991.

            Another close encounter of all Bay Area team making the playoffs in the same year was in 1993-1994.  In April of 1994 the San Jose Sharks made its first playoff appearance in its young history. That same year the Golden State Warriors made the playoffs in April of 1994. The 49ers would make the playoffs in both 1993 and 1994.  Unfortunately, the Giants did not make the playoffs in 1993 nor was it possible to make the playoffs in 1994 due to a players’ strike that ended the season in August that year. The A’s didn’t make the playoffs in 1993 either. The Oakland A’s did make the playoffs in October of 1992 but that is more than a year until the Sharks would make the postseason in 1994.  Between 1994 and 2007 the Warriors went through one of the worst postseason droughts in sports history and thus the chance of a Bay Area team in the postseason in four different sports was not reachable as long as the Warriors struggled.  Then along came the 2006-2007 season for the Warriors.

            In April of 2007 the Warriors finally reached the postseason and it was a magical one.  The San Jose Sharks also reached the postseason in April 2007.  The Oakland A’s made it to the playoffs months earlier in October of 2006. However, that was all the Bay Area witnessed that year. The 49ers and the Raiders both were in middle of playoff droughts that year as they both last reached the postseason in January of 2002. The SF Giants were rebuilding as a team in 2006 and 2007 as they went through a transition from the Barry Bonds era to the post Bonds era. After 2007 the Golden State Warriors went through another playoffs drought which made the chance for a team in each sport reaching the postseason hopeless that is until this year.

            With Warriors back in the playoffs, the Giants fresh off a World Series title, and the 49ers recently going through a heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl, this year arguably has already been one of the best years for Bay Area Sports. However, to make this year truly special would be for the San Jose Sharks to join the rest of the Bay Area pack into postseason galore.  Then it would be at least one team in each major sports league going to the playoffs that the Bay Area can witness.  I don’t know how frequently that has happened in other sports regions across the country. I am sure it is not that often as most regions always have that one team in one sport that holds the rest of the region back such as the Warriors for the Bay Area or the Pirates for Pittsburgh. I do know though that this week could be the first time it happens for the Bay Area.  The Sharks have been the team in the Bay Area most consistently in the playoffs the past ten years so I like our chances of sports history. Let’s cherish the possibility of five of our six Bay Area teams making the postseason this past year. After that let’s hope it can happen again next year. Then let’s hope the Raiders can stop holding the Bay Area back and make it a perfect 6 for 6 in Bay Area teams reaching the postseason.

Colin Kaepernick Is Representing Nevada Well

When Colin Kaepernick defeated Green Bay with his arm and legs last Saturday, there was a huge sense of school pride that I felt after the game. I went to the University of Nevada Reno. I was there to witness Colin Kaepernick play for the Nevada Wolf Pack football team during his first two seasons as quarterback. It would my last two years at the school. When I graduated, I would continue to follow Kaepernick closely especially his senior season, when he gave Nevada its best season in school history. Every time I watched Kaepernick, I felt school pride because he was making Nevada football entertaining and many times he helped the team win. I would never forget watching his last game in person at AT&T Park when he and the Wolf Pack beat Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

            I would never forget saying to my dad after Kaepernick’s last college game about how great it would be if the 49ers drafted him. I was a Wolf Pack fan and a 49ers fan. I enjoyed cheering on Kaepernick while I was in college and so I liked the thought of continuing to cheer him on while with the 49ers, the team I grew up rooting for.  It would have been weird for me having to cheer against him if he had played for another team.  As fate would have it, Kaepernick would get drafted by the 49ers and I was excited.

            I knew Kaepernick would not be the 49ers starting quarterback right away but I knew that once he was given a chance, no matter how briefly the opportunity was, he would make the most of his opportunity. That’s what happened at Nevada. Kaepernick was not the starting quarterback at the beginning of his freshmen season at Nevada. It was not until mid season his freshmen year when Nevada’s starter got injured that Kaepernick got the chance to start. He made the most of his opportunity and never looked back. He would do so well filling in as starting quarterback that even when the other quarterback came back from injury, Kaepernick would never give up the starting job.  I predicted the same thing would happen in the NFL with the 49ers. I said to people that if an injury happened to Alex Smith, that Kaepernick was going to fill in and do so great that he would remain the starting quarterback. Well, my predictions were right. Kaepernick filled in for Alex Smith and he never looked back.  While I am happy for the way Kaepernick has played, I would be lying if I say I was surprised.  Not after what I saw him do in college. I knew he would have success before most people did.

            Now Kaepernick is getting ready for the NFC Championship game against the Atlanta Falcons.  Not only will I be rooting for Kaepernick as a 49er fan but I will be cheering for him as a fellow Wolf Pack student from the University of Nevada.  Not only does Kaepernick succeeding help my 49ers, its helps the Wolf Pack get name recognition around the country. It’s the best of both worlds for me.

Against Atlanta Colin Kaepernick Must Play the Game of His Life

As big of a win Colin Kaepernick had against Green Bay last Saturday, the game coming up will be bigger. That’s because it is not just any game, it’s the NFC Championship game. The winner of that game goes to the Super Bowl and the only team standing in the way of Kaepernick and the 49ers going to the Super Bowl is the Atlanta Falcons.  Kaepernick had a great game against Green Bay but he will need to play even better against Atlanta. He will need to play the game of his life.

            You can argue that the Super Bowl would be the game of Kaepernick’s life and in ways you would be right. However, from a 49ers perspective, the NFC Championship game has always been the biggest hurdle for the 49ers when winning a Super Bowl. The 49ers have appeared in 14 NFC Championship games but have only won five of them. However, once the 49ers reach the Super Bowl they are undefeated. They have never lost a Super Bowl they appeared in.  

            There is something about playing on the biggest stage that the 49ers thrive on historically and I don’t see that changing in this Super Bowl if they manage to get there. They already prove that they can beat the New England Patriots during the regular season. New England also doesn’t have a good defense so Kaepernick would run circles around them. While the Baltimore Ravens would prove to be a bigger challenge for the 49ers offense since Baltimore has a good defense, I believe the 49ers defense is better. Plus Baltimore is not known for huge offensive numbers so the 49ers defense would keep them from scoring much. It would come down to the 49ers putting up points against a good defense and Kaepernick has shown he can beat a good defense. Just ask the Chicago Bears.

            The game against Atlanta also should be the most important for Kaepernick because it will be a test to whether he can bring the 49ers to the next level.  Alex Smith brought the 49ers to the NFC Championship game last year but faltered in that game against the New York Giants. The reason for Head Coach Jim Harbaugh choosing to start Kaepernick over Smith this postseason is because he feels Kaepernick can take the 49ers further than Smith can.  This game will be a test to whether Harbaugh made the right decision.  If Kaepernick can take the 49ers farther than Smith did, all of the debate about who should be the starting quarterback will be put to rest no matter what happens in the Super Bowl.

            So how exactly can Kaepernick play better against Atlanta than he did against Green Bay? Considering that he set NFL records against Green Bay that game will be hard to beat in terms of success. For starters, Kaepernick will need to throw more touchdown passes than he did against Green Bay. As much as I like the running touchdowns that Kaepernick scores, I think Atlanta is going to prepare for his rushing ability. They will expect Kaepernick to run and may take away the lanes that Green Bay gave him. So Kaepernick will have to throw more than he did last game to offset the lack of rushing touchdowns. If Atlanta tries to stop Kaepernick’s runs, they will most likely be leaving players open for Kaepernick to pass to. So he should be able to make deep throws to his wide receivers.  He will need to throw for over 300 yards in passing.  He will need to throw three to four touchdown passes.  Most importantly, he needs to spread the ball around when he throws it. Michael Crabtree has been Kaepernick’s main target but he needs to try and get some passes to Randy Moss. Everyone will expect Crabtree to get passes so he might be double teamed. This should leave receivers like Moss and Vernon Davis open for passes as well as Delanie Walker.

            Overall, if Kaepernick can throw the ball more this upcoming week, it should open up the run game for Kaepernick as well as Frank Gore.  This will need to be done for Kaepernick to win the game of his life.